INDIANAPOLIS — Drivers heading into downtown Indianapolis could face new delays as highway crews have closed a stretch of Interstates 65 and 70 for an expected two-month project to lower pavement under seven bridges.

Officials say that work is needed because those bridges have been hit repeatedly by oversized semitrailer loads.

The highway section was closed early Tuesday, although some exit and entrance ramps will remain open. The $12 million project scheduled for completion by the end of October.

The Indiana Department of Transportation reports more than 400 bridge strikes since 1999 in the section, which carries an average of 109,000 vehicles a day.